Pupp3try
by T34R5ofH34V3N
Summary: Mikan returns after 6 years, now she comes back with new power, new feelings, as a new person. i suck at summaries. pairing: nxm. my first fic. R&R plz! might be rated M for POSSIBLE contents in later chappies
1. return

AN: k peeps; it's my first fic, so plz review!!! This story was suggested by my Gakuen Alice otaku friend, so blame her if u dun like it. It is MxN by the way, so for those mikan haters, turn away. My friend is obsessed with this pairing, and well… I'm not much of a romance lovey mushy person, so there's gonna be no lemons. YAY. My friend won't be happy though. For those of you who wants a lemon, ahem, HENTAIs, let me know. I obviously won't write any, but my friend will.

Me: I OWN GAKUEN ALICE!

My friend: NO YOU DON'T, I DO!

Me: I DO SO!

My friend: U DO NOT!

DO SO!

DO NOT!

DO SO!

DO NOT!

Natsume lights both of us on fire

Anyways, ENJOY!

Puppetry

Chapter 1 Return

The sky was dark and gloomy, and the cold rain poured down on the lonely, empty streets of Eastside Tokyo. Everything seemed dead; the only sound that broke the silence of the night was that of pattering rain, and the only sign of life seemed to be the single black limousine driving down the deserted road. The shaking of the vehicle on the poorly paved street gradually woke up a girl who was riding inside from her restless slumber.

"Mikan-san, it seems like you finally woke up, we will be arriving there shortly" the driver said, looking at her through the review mirror. "Please be patient"

"Hai" was the only quiet reply from the girl.

She, turned her head to look out the window, and suddenly winced from the soarness in her stiff neck, she has been cramped in the car for … how long have they been driving now? She didn't know, only it felt like eternity.

As she adjusted her neck to a less straining position, she saw the familiar scenery of the streets pass by. This was the same street she took 7 years ago when she was trying to find Hotaru. She was 10 back then, a carefree cheerful girl who knew nothing of the outside world, but was always eager to find out. Her innocence might be what attracted everyone to her. But now, she was 17, and she regretted wanting to learn of the world beyond the academy walls. The outside world was dark, and full of hated truths. When she thinks about it, she'd rather be secluded and locked inside the lies of the academy. At least everything didn't seem as violent and cruel there.

She hasn't been to the academy for 6 years. After her Elementary graduation, the academy sends her away to training camp. And what horrible training it was. Now she knew the real reason as to why she was enrolled as the only trainee from the Tokyo branch of Gakuen alice: it was partially because she was gullible and easily subjected to propaganda, but the main reason was that she possessed a powerful Alice that would be beneficial to the academy. And she was stupid, not to mention gullible, enough to believe it was for own personal gain of perfecting her Alice, she had thought she could protect the ones she loved if she went. Everything was taken away from her as she started a new life outside the academy, a life without anyone to depend and rely on. The training was harsh. The teachers were ruthless. She trained together with students from other Alice Academies across the world. You could befriend as many students as you want, but you will soon realize that it will never get you anywhere in you personal, individual training. They underwent all kinds of training, in hopes of becoming perfect human beings. They were destined to be the academy's slaves for the rest of their lives. For those students who had a strong personality and rebelled, soon found themselves beaten, locked up, and starved. Mikan was one of these students. She soon learned her lesson and gradually, very slowly, learned how to seal in her emotions. After all, they were only useless and a troublesome hindrance in training. After that, everything became an endurance match; those who broke first were failures, and those who pushed through were survivors in this dangerous game. Social Darwinism: indeed, only the fittest creatures will survive. The training camp was a place without hope. It was so different from the academy that it was hard to believe it was organized by them. But she knew it didn't matter, nobody except her would know about this, nobody would believe her, everybody would be completely oblivious to what was going on.

Except Natsume… 

That was her only thought back then, and it still lingers in her mind. Did Natsume suffer like this too? Is that why he's so cold? Was he treated as a mere tool too? She learned what was the "dark side", what Natsume always cautiously warned her about, the hard way.

Now, having finished with training, she was back at the academy, and she felt sick, very sick. She was nervous. She was scared. She did not, at the least, want to face her friends like this. They probably wouldn't understand what she had become. She didn't merely change, she transformed into another person. What she was now was too different to be considered a change. No matter how much she tried to laugh wholeheartedly, it would come out as a dull chuckle that never shined to anybody's heart. She hated herself, hated her life. 6 years ago, everybody told her she looked best when she smiled, but now, she would satisfy no one. Her usual happy face was now replaced by a blank, stoic one, free from any emotion.

"Mikan-san, we're almost here, we'll be entering school grounds in a minute or so."

"Hai", came the same reply.

The driver felt sorry for the girl. As a person who dedicated himself to the academy, he understood what she had gone through, and what she was going through, and he pitied her.

Mikan watched as they neared the main gate, it was still as magnificent as ever. An approaching guard nodded in acknowledgement when he saw the limo and the driver inside. The big golden gates were quickly opened.

It was still early in the morning; nobody should have been awake yet. This thought relieved her. The last thing she wanted right now was to be in a crowd of people. Everything still looked the same, still looked so familiar, yet so new. In comparison, she felt dirty, tainted, even though she knew it wasn't true. Before the ride, she had taken a long shower, making sure she washed off all the dirt, grease, and such, and trying her hardest to scrub off her memories of the place. She felt so out of place.

After a few minutes of driving inside the campus, they finally pulled up in front of the registration building. Her previous life in the academy was taken away. Then she gave up her current life. Now, she had to start over a new one…again. She felt like a toy, played around until she expired, and then be thrown away.

The driver got out, walked around, and opened the door for her.

She slowly got out of the limo, her body ached badly, and she did not want to start this so called ideal life. She hated to think about the fact that her friends might not acknowledge her anymore, and she'll be in the dark again.

She sighed, whispered a small arigato to the driver, straightened her back and walked gracefully into the building.

Mikan lay in her bed, being excused from the first day of classes. She had been given her new high school uniform, keys to her dorm, a school map, schedule, allowance to start things off, and other school supplies. Another thing didn't change about the academy: yup, they were still goddamn rich. She had also been given her star-ranking prior. She was now a super star (no puns intended), it wasn't much to her surprise though. Either it was pity, pride, or appreciation; this was probably one of her 'rewards' for having completed her training, just as they wanted.

She sighed for the umpteenth time that day, sat up and looked out the window that was conveniently situated right beside her bed. Students dotted the schoolyard; it was lunch break. She could already recognize some familiar figures, but none she had been too close with.

From what she was notified and informed of, high school was divided into 3 year groups, with 3 classes of each grade whereas elementary was only divided into 2 branches: the kiddies and the babies. (Sound not too enthusiastic eh mikan? XD) This means there were way more people in high school, most of which mush have joined in junior high or something. And next year, when everybody else graduates, she would still be serving the academy.

Along with Natusme… 

She really hoped Natsume will still be there for her… if he still remembers her that is.

She sighed again, flopped back down onto her bed and closed her eyes.

_This is going to be a long year._

Natsume, Ruka, Kokoroyomi, and the rest of their group (sorry, I dun no their names ') walked down the path to the cafeteria. Natsume, with girls clung to his arms, growled. It was that time of the year again, and all the girls were crowding around him and asking him to be their dance partner for the last dance. And now, he was trying to escape their hugs and kisses. Somehow, he had the sudden urge to light all the girls up on fire right now.

"Natsume-kun, leave that bitch Sumire, and come with me, I'm always available" A girl said seductively.

By Sumire, she meant Natsume's current girlfriend, and Natsume…well, switches girlfriends about once every week. Everybody thinks he's just being a playboy and enjoys fucking girls, since girls were all over him anyways. But you got to give him credit, he was the hottest boy in school; tall, well build body, lightly tanned skin, toned chest, he was down right sexy you could say. No wonder all the girls fell for him, well with a few exceptions anyway. But in secret, Natsume knew, deep down in his heart, that the reason was because he wants to fill the blank vacancy of his heart, the emptiness in him.

_Mikan._

Ever since she left the academy, he was never whole. He wanted to find someone that can stop the pain in his heart. Sumire was hot-headed, just like Mikan; she was loud, just like Mikan; she was annoying, just like Mikan, she was talkative, just like Mikan, but…she was not Mikan. And no matter how hard he tried to forget her, he knew he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried to replace her, he knew nobody could. All his efforts were in vain. Mikan was irreplaceable. He wants to see those hazel eyes again, the same pools that he felt lost in, the ones that melted him, the ones that gave him hope, the ones that … he loved. With each passing day, each day without Mikan, a bit of his heart seemed to be eaten away. The gaping hole just seems to be getting larger and larger. He felt so unfulfilled, like his life was always incomplete, always missing the important thing, and he has a pretty good guess that missing ingredient is Mikan.

"Hey sexy, why the long face? Wanna have some fun at my place tonight? I'll give you a great time." Another girl whispered in his ear, pressed herself to him, and handed him her dorm number.

"Hey! Get off of my Natsume!" another girl shouted.

Seeing this girl's chocolate coloured eyes, she reminded him of _her, _but they weren't the same; these ones were cold, without any warmth. Wanting to get away from the rest of the girls, and to satisfy his hunger and craving of his growing…ahem…lower area, he agreed.

"Okay babe, I'll be there by eleven, then we can have a whooping ass hell of a time…in your bed. …Or maybe you would like to do that now?" Natsume whispered back in a lustful voice, and took the piece of paper. He gave her ass a hard squeeze before winking and walking off to meet up with his friends, knowing the girl had already melted behind him.

Just arriving at the cafeteria, a name suddenly snapped him out of his lustful trance.

"Hey, did you hear? The news about that girl? I think her name's Mikan Sakura."

Hearing this, Natsume immediately stopped walking. _Mikan?_

"Yeah, I heard she came back today."

"My onii-san works in the office as an assistant. I met him on my way to school this morning." A girl in the lower years said. "He looked like an idiot in bliss… heaven or something; he said something about love at first sight with that Sakura girl."

Natsume, who was listening into their conversation, wanted to burn the girl's brother alive. He just stopped himself in time before he took out his anger out on an innocent passer by.

"O yeah, that reminds me. This morning, I was in the student council meeting, and I saw this girl walk into the office. She was so pretty! Drop dead gorgeous, I would say. I'm so jealous; I swear all the boys in the building that time stopped breathing."

Mikan? Drop dead gorgeous? Natsume now had the urge to kill everybody in the building that morning. 

"Now you mention it, my dad had a staff meeting this morning too. He said there was this new student, and she was quite the lady, well mannered and everything."

Quite the lady? Well mannered? Mikan? 

Without hearing anymore, Natsume ran back down the path, searching frantically for a certain person.

_Imai. Something's not right._

Done! Finally! Review plz! Not quite the cliffy, but I'll try to update ASAP, if you guys are interested that is. I'm going away on a school trip tomorrow, so I won't be back till the week after. I'll try to get the next chap up the week after that.

Ja for now

T34R5ofH34V3N


	2. questions

K, I'm finally back from my trip and in school again. Sigh. Anyways, for the reviews, just so u no, I'm not perverted, all for my friend. And well… you know, she's kinda insane, if u haven't figured already.

So here it is:

Xxx::::::xxX

Puppetry

Chapter two Questions

Red Crimson eyes flicked from side to side, trying to focus on the objects that were blurring past. Natsume ran at top speed, not caring if he had bumped into any students. He wanted answers, and his eyes darted around anxiously looking for the only source of answer. Out of frustration and impatience, he'd almost burned everything in his way to find what he was searching for. Well… who he was searching for.

The second before he almost uncontrollably released his Alice, his sight finally landed on the needed purple haired girl. Without thinking more, he pushed his way through to the girl and almost burst trying to hold in his sanity and rage.

"Imai! I want answers now!"

The purple haired girl turned around. "Ah, Hyuuga I see, I suggest you keep your voice down in public, I don't think you need more attention than what you already have." Hotaru Imai replied with the blank face that was always so impossible to read emotions from, testing the patience of the all well known Hyuuga Natsume.

Natsume clenched his fists together, trying to resist the temptation to use his Alice, even though he knew all too well that Imai was not a person to meddle with.

"I don't give a damn! Answer me now before I lose control of myself!" He regretted the moment the words came out of his lips. Now he will never keep his cool, if he still has it, for he also knew Imai loved to see others suffer and him, annoyed to death.

"Oh? I suppose you would get angrier if I told you that I have no hell of an idea what you are talking about," she still had on a blank face, with a very small smirk tugging at her lips, she was obviously amused and enjoying this.

"Don't play dumb with me! You know very well what I'm asking for. Being both a principle's student and part of the student council, you must have heard the rumours in the meeting today!" By now, Natsume had already lit up a small fireball in his hand, clearly threatening the girl that was standing right before him.

More people had gathered by this time, they were all looking at the two people, and wondering what on earth had happened to make the famous, cool, calm, emotionless Hyuuga and Imai so worked up.

"Are you trying to intimidate me Hyuuga?" Hotaru's face had regained that serious look again. "Then let me tell you this, if you want to find out what's going on with _her_, I suggest you compose yourself and search elsewhere. After all, I don't tell information for free. But it would seem you would find out soon anyway." Hotaru turned around and started heading towards the science department building. She paused after a few steps, glanced back and whispered in a quiet voice. "Instead of _her_, you better look at yourself, _she _certainly wouldn't be happy if she finds out about your night activities. Knowing her, she'd probably cry her eyes out, so if I were you, I would fix those hobbies up first"

_They are not goddamn hobbies!_ No matter how hard it was for him to accept it, he knew Imai had a point, he couldn't present himself to Mikan like that, he can't.

Natsume clenched his jaws tightly together, whipped around and sternly walked away, glaring daggers into those who silently watched him while muttering curses and colourful words under his lips.

The crowd around them quickly thinned out, giving way to the two people, dispersing rapidly under the awkward atmosphere and the intense glares of the Fire Alice user.

Hotaru watched the retreating figure until he disappeared.

_Its good to know you still care so much._

But unbeknownst to any of them, Mikan had already given up and succumbed to the darkness of the Academy. None of them knew that she had thrown away her previous happy life inside the Academy.

0000000ooooo0000000

After a long shopping trip to Central Town, Mikan was all worn out, she managed to buy and purchase all the things she needed and make it back to the dorm before school was let out, before students would have a chance of seeing her. She still wasn't ready to meet her friends yet and she did not want them to find her by surprise.

After, organizing and restocking her room, Mikan could not fight the sleep in her eyes anymore and immediately dozed off the second she hit the pillow.

0000000ooooo0000000

Natsume was mad, again. He didn't feel like going to the festival activities after talking to Imai, but went anyways since he figured Mikan might have started classes and would be celebrating the festival as it was nearing to an end. The activities each group held was organized by the elementary and junior high students, high school students just participated or supervised the activities. But after two hours, with no hope of Mikan showing up, Natsume was weary and angry. He had skipped the final 2 hours and was now sitting up on one of the taller branches of the Sakura tree. The same tree where he first, and last, kissed Mikan.

Damn it! Why do I keep thinking of her? I can't keep her out of my mind for a single second, what is wrong with me?

Natsume was confused, about his state and his feelings towards Mikan. He knew he liked Mikan, but that was 6 years ago, and his feelings before were never as intense as they were now. He let a final grunt of frustration, shook his head in an attempt to stop thinking of her, and leapt off of the branch gracefully.

Eyelashes fluttered, after a few seconds of straining, Mikan Sakura finally opened her eyes, revealing beautiful hazelnut pools, the ones that had lost their light. After adjusting to the darkness of the room, she finally sat up in bed. The only light now was the dimness of the moonlight. Mikan rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, and just realized how late it was. Her alarm clock read 11:45; she must have slept through dinner too.

A sigh escaped from her mouth. What is she going to do for the rest of the night? It was almost summer, and the still night air certainly didn't get any cooler. It seemed very unlikely for her to fall asleep again. Mikan kicked away her silk blankets, revealing the clothes she had previously worn for the whole entire day. Disgusted, she finally decided to take a shower to cool herself off.

Thirty minutes passed before Mikan came out again. Only wrapped in a towel, Mikan felt very refreshed… and even more awake. Having nothing to do, she walked over to her desk and picked up the picture that was sitting on top. The photo was of her and Hotaru, dancing and laughing – Hotaru smiling – in front of the bonfire on the night of the last dance. Mikan couldn't help but frown, the Mikan in the picture seemed so unfamiliar, just like a stranger. Memories came flooding back, and Mikan remembered all the happy and sad times 6 years ago; she had a lot of fun here in the academy.

Trying not to remind herself of her past life anymore, Mikan sat the picture back down and crawled into bed again and closed her eyes once more. The room was silent and still, and it remained like that for only a short while, before the peace was broken by sudden sounds of explosion. Frantic screams soon rang through the air.

Mikan barely had enough time to register what was going on before a bang was heard on her door and immediately thrown open. She grabbed her blanket and covered her naked form just in time before the intruder caught sight of her.

_Shit._

She had only seen him a few times before, but he created an impression so vivid that it was impossible for anyone to forget that face, and for her to recognize him anywhere.

_Persona…_

"Ah, seems like you are already awake, Sakura-san. I'm sure you know that I'm your new guidance teacher already, so I'll get straight to the point." Persona said in his low mysterious voice. "Its an emergency, the enemy has somehow broken through the main gates and already launched an attack on the Jr. High grounds. Hurry up before the attacks get to the dorms; let this be your first mission. Show me these perfected skills of yours." He chuckled, sending a shiver down Mikan's back. He gave her the creeps, not to mention right now, he's currently unwelcome in her room, (nor would he ever be welcomed) when she only had a thin silk blanket covering her.

Mikan nodded, and stared back at him, hoping he'll leave any time soon.

"Those eyes, I love it. So blank, empty, blurry, and glazed. It seems the Academy did a pretty good job." With those final words, Persona left the room, his laugh still echoing through the darkness.

Persona walked down the stark empty hallways. Most students have already evacuated, and the rest have joined student council in the administration to get more information on the case. He smiled inwardly.

_Things will get interesting from here. _

_Isn't that right, Natsume?_

Ok, there's another chappie peeps. Thanks for the reviews; I'll take it as a compliment about my story being mature, dun hear that about me very often. -- Anyways, plz review lots, I want lots more, keep them coming! This chappie is kinda short, so I'll try to write a longer one next time, so be supportive! XD I wrote this 12 o clock in the morning, and I'm so fricking tired, so pardon any errors or mistakes.

Next chappie: natsume and mikan finally meet! YAY!

Well, ja ne,

T34R5ofH34V3N


	3. in the darkness of the night

AN: ok, this is really retarded. My story is more than 4000 words, 2000 on average for each chappie, and I only got 12 reviews. I read this one shot before, its only 400 something words, and it got 26 reviews!!!!! Anyways, I'll just write this chappie and see how things go, if not so great, I'll probably focus on something else, like badminton, rather than writing fan fiction for an almost non existing audience. It's so stupid, my friend and I didn't make it into the girls' doubles team because the games weren't organized very fairly, and the teacher didn't do substitutes. And then at the day of the divisional competition, we were told to fill in for a group that was not playing – 3 HOURS BEFORE the competition starts. And I, was away on the band trip, and hadn't even touched my racket for 2 weeks or so. And my friend, well, had a peppermint slurppy, and was high on sugar for quite a while (lets just say she wasn't in the right mind). But surprisingly, we did pretty well; we made it into the top 6 out of 12 teams (4 schools). All our school's girls' doubles teams made it. YAY!

Anyway, I think I talked way too much…er… typed I meant. So here's the next chappie. Remember to review! Sigh

Puppetry

Chapter 3 In the darkness of the night

A momentarily gust of wind blew into her room, making the curtains dance wildly to the direction the wind had pointed them to. Mikan had a pretty good idea that it was caused by the explosions set off in the distance. If she didn't hurry, students might fall victim to the attacks, and the damages caused will be too great to fix and repair in a short amount of time. …And, she'll get into trouble for that.

_Crap._

Mikan cursed while trying to find a suitable and fitting outfit for the mission. After changing into her comfortable attire, Mikan quickly made sure she didn't look like someone who had just gotten out of bed. Looking around, she effortlessly jumped out the window, deciding it was the fastest way.

Xxxxxxxxx0xxxxxxxxX

A small group of students, the people that were either courageous enough to not run away or just being curious or stupid, have gathered around the school field wondering what was going on. A few particular students, namely Ruka, Hotaru, Sumire, Kokoro, and the other person in Natsume's group (sorry, I dun no his name, u no the person that can lift things up in the air? Plz tell me what his name is if u no, I would appreciate it a lot), instead of running away, sped all the way here from the High School dorms after hearing the explosions. After looking around the students, they met up with two figures standing up front.

"Natsume! What the hell is going on here?" Ruka shouted, trying to be heard above the deafening booms of explosions.

His voice broke off the concentration of the two people who were seemingly looking at something on the building. The taller figure looked back to the direction of the voice. A mask that was etched with markings of black and little spots of white hid his face; this was also his identity of the dark, known to both the AA and the AAAO.

_Black Cat._

After a few years, Hotaru and Ruka have also joined this underground mission corps of the academy, after their curiosity lead them to the truth. They didn't want Natsume to be alone, especially when they knew that Mikan hadn't wanted it either. Shortly after they joined, they academy found their detecting and tracing skills irreplaceable, with Hotaru capable of hacking into the most tightly secured databases, and Ruka being able to form an alliance with all the animals as his searchers. Besides, Persona wouldn't let them quit after finding their help essential, plus they had nothing better to do with their everyday life in the academy anyways.

"Ruka! Get the others away from here right now! Haiyaku!"

Before anyone can register his words, a large group of men dressed in black jumped off the building's roof, there were about twenty or so of them.

_AAAO._

"I'm afraid it's too late my little friends! For today, I shall see the destruction of the Academy, and that includes the demise of all of you as well!" A more strongly build looking man stepped out as he taunted them, an evident badge on his shirt made it obvious that he was leader. Now that all the players are here, the explosions that were used to lure them out has stopped, and the night was dark again. The leader glanced to the two people standing directly between him and the other students.

"Ah, the famous black cat and silver snake, I have been looking forward to this day. Today is when we, the AAAO, undergo the ultimate plan to kill the both of you, the men I have gathered all have mastered their Alices, their danger level may even be more superior than yours!" The man let out a victorious laugh of triumph.

"Hn, Soudesuka? You sure talk much, perhaps you would like to say that again…after I kill you all." Natsume's deadly glare was now easy to see through the eyeholes of his mask. A big ball of flames has already formed in his hand.

A devious smile crept onto the man's lips, and it pissed Natsume off.

In a split second, a flurry of flames charged for the group of men, only to ignite another explosion on what seemed like an invisible wall.

"Ahahaha, you didn't really think you could beat us did you? I have done all the research I can on you guys to make sure this mission succeeds. And my comrade that has the Alice of suspending gunpowder in air is the perfect defence for your fire Alice, you –"

The leader's sentence was cut short when a swarm of dead spirits suddenly attacked him. It was all going smooth when a light disseminated the spirits.

"Ha, the Silver Snake now eh?" The man said after recovering from the shock. "An Alice summoning bad spirits, potentially dangerous: yes, but not against an Alice of dispelling dark magic. Don't underestimate us, I've told you we did our research."

"And it seems you have indeed, but you shouldn't underestimate us either." A man emerged from the shadows of the trees, apparently having witnessed the whole scene.

"Persona…"

The lean and mysterious masked man paid no mind to the impostors, but instead turned to the other party. "Natsume, Youichi (Now you know who silver snake is), this is not your mission. Your job now is to safely evacuate the students." He didn't sound at all concerned, not to mention even surprised. His smirk and gleam, detectable even under the mask, gave everyone a good idea that everything was under his predicaments. And if that's the case, it wouldn't be surprising that everything will be coming to an end soon.

Hotaru, Ruka, Sumire, Kokoro, Air-san (I'll call him that for now), who were watching up till now reluctantly turned around, ushering the rest of the students to go back to somewhere safe.

Natsume's eyes narrowed, obviously disliking Persona's precept, he hated to admit defeat in front of the AAAO, as he was just ordered to withdraw from the fight. With pure contempt written all over his face, he knew better than to oppose the academy.

"Hn, as if we'll let u get away!" The leader hollered, getting everybody's attention again. Without further ado, he snapped his fingers, signalling all his men to take out their gun and fire.

_SHIT!_

Continuous bangs were heard. But after what seemed like eternity, everybody gradually opened his or her eyes when they realized that they had not been shot dead yet.

"The hell…?"

A visible barrier had formed between the AAAO and the group of students, intercepting all the fired bullets.

Another final gunshot rang through the air, fired by the leader out of utter shock and disbelief. But now, everyone could clearly see as the barrier came into stronger effect when the bullet hit it, rendering the small piece of metal broken and useless.

"I'll be your opponent." A monotone voice said softly, barely above a whisper, but carried by the wind and was heard by everyone below.

By instinct, all startled eyes followed and traced the voice to its owner, who was currently standing on a branch of a taller tree, but was hidden within the darkness of the shadows. Hotaru, who perhaps had a sharper eye than Natsume, was also squinting a bit.

The dark silhouette was so still and hard to see that the eye would just pass by it even when seen. After locating the owner of the voice, Hotaru secretly glanced at persona. The new player was definitely a girl, and the satisfied look on persona's face has just confirmed everything. If she wasn't mistaken, this was the new member of Persona's team, of the Academy's mission corp. And the only new student recently was…

"Sakura-san, I see you have finally decided to make your entrance." Came the dark chuckle from Persona.

Audible gasps can be almost heard from the crowd, with the exception of Hotaru of course. To say the very least, even Natsume's eyes widened at the name he had been longing to hear. Sakura? As in Mikan Sakura? It was indeed true that the rumour was going around in school, but the fact that she never showed up made many believe it was just a mere joke or myth.

"Iie, I was hoping I didn't have to do this, but it looks like its inevitable." With this said, the figure jumped off the tree with ease and into the open. Long untied silky hair fluttered in the wind, a black long cloak blew along, worn by a slender figure that was currently facing Persona, giving the rest a side view.

"Very well then, I might consider assigning you fewer missions in the future, after you get rid of these impostors that is."

Mikan frowned, she knew what she must do, but she hated the situation she is currently placed in. "Hmpf, just don't forget about what you said." With that said, Mikan swung around to face the AAAO and a sudden surge of immense pressure rippled through the air like a wave, and the centre point of this massive energy release was focusing in on none other than the girl of attention.

"What the hell was that?" Worried looks were apparent on the faces of the group of men.

"I've already won, would you like them captured?"

"Of course."

"I'm trying sir! It doesn't seem to be getting to her though."

Realization soon hit, "A null…nullification Alice?" The leader stammered as he slowly backed away. "Crap!" He held out his gun once again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, I have condensed the essence of my nullification Alice into particles dense enough to hold physical attacks, a bullet would probably be crushed the second you press the trigger, and I won't guarantee that your gun won't backfire when that happens."

Now, scared out of his wits, the leader dropped the gun and attempted to make a run for it.

Mikan narrowed her eyes, and furrowed her brows in annoyance, it was hard to concentrate, and she felt so uncomfortable right now. Her old friends staring at her, bearing holes through her back, Persona examining her performance, and the AAAO members screaming and shouting. Out of irritation, she immediately threw out both hands, and another surge of pressure shot out, only this time circling in around the group of men. Everyone watched as the leader crashed head first into the side of the nullification barrier.

Persona let a chuckle, regained his posture from leaning against the tree, and three slow but loud sharp claps.

"A very enjoyable show indeed if I must say so myself, you may be dismissed today."

"Hai."

Without a second thought, Mikan leaped into the trees again, trying to delay the inevitable confrontation with her friends. Shaking her head frantically, she tried to convince herself that this is the right thing to do.

_Its okay for it to be like this, I'm not ready for it anyways._

"Hn, so this is how it is eh?" It was now Natsume who spoke, averting everyone's attention from the girl who just disappeared. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Natsume calmly walked out of sight. To think he would be the most effected by Mikan's return, he is actually the most composed out of all of them, other than Hotaru of course. Ruka, slow as he is, had no idea of what the hell was going on with Natsume. He looked back to the place where Mikan had disappeared from and back to Natsume again, and finally ran off to catch up to his friend.

Staying behind was Hotaru and some other students who have not disassembled yet.

_Mikan's back, Natsume._

Turning to the spot Persona had once stood, Hotaru narrowed her eyes, showing some emotion for the first time, but only to be hidden in the darkness.

_Hmm, the perfection of an Alice… looks like I have a little bit of hacking to do._

OooooooooooooooooooooooooO

There's another chappy, this'll probably be the last before summer break, with exams coming up and all. Hope you like it, c ya peeps!

T34R5ofH34V3N


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